Grateful dad thanks Pendle supermarket worker who stepped in to help when his autistic son became upset during shopping trip

Ryan Crabtree sprang into action at the Asda store in Colne when Connor Hunter, who is autistic, found the trip overwhelming. Distracting the seven-year-old with the laser on his hand held device, Ryan soon had Connor smiling and laughing and chatting about football.

And Connor's dad Robert was so grateful he contacted the store to thank Ryan personally.

Robert, who lives in Nelson, said: "That small act of kindness went such a long way. There aren't many people like Ryan in this world and we need more like him.

"My son is autistic and struggles with loud and noisy environments. Many others would have walked away and not helped me on that day when he couldn’t deal with the noise but Ryan came over and helped."

Food hall section leader Ryan (29), who has worked at the store for three months and soon to become a dad himself, has been presented with an Asda superstar award for his actions that went above and beyond the call of duty.

Home shopping manager Judith Caine, who nominated Ryan for the award, said: ""Ryan is lovely. He's funny and caring, just a really nice lad.

"His actions were so much appreciated by the dad who said the store can sometimes be loud, noisy and very busy for his son and he just wanted to let us know just how good Ryan was.

"For that little lad it's made such a difference. When the boy next comes into Asda he's going to think of Ryan and the flashing lights as opposed to being worried about going into a supermarket.

" Not all superheroes were capes – well done Ryan."